Some jockeys do nothing more than politely raise their whips or doff their caps as they return to scale on a Group 1 winner. Others look likely to execute a double somersault at any moment. Frankie Dettori’s famous “star jump” has delighted many spectators and been copied by a handful of jockeys around the world. Among the most animated post race reactions ever seen in Sydney were those of Gavin Eades after his consecutive Doncaster wins on Pharaoh in the mid nineties. Just recently Mark Zahra was predictably excited after his Melbourne Cup win on Gold Trip, while Tom Marquand was clearly chuffed when Dubai Honour gave him a third Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick.
Put all of those post race responses together, and they wouldn’t add up to the thrill Anna Roper experienced in winning a $16,000 race for maidens and Cl 1 horses at Kempsey on Saturday. This little girl was the talk of NSW racing late last year as she reeled off 56 wins between April 3rd and November 25th. Her world came crashing down when a freakish accident at Muswellbrook left her with a badly damaged right knee. At the time she held a significant lead over James McDonald on the NSW jockeys premiership ladder.
The smile says it all! Here's Anna after unsaddling Penfold Park at Kempsey on Saturday - courtesy Trackside Photography.
The apprentice had been unplaced on her first ride in the opening race at Muswellbrook and had the mount on a $31.00 pop called Stable Talk for trainer Kevin Dixon in the second. She found the front on the first turn in the 1450m Cl 1 event, and still held a narrow lead at the 200m before being swamped to finish seventh. The big bay gelding with the conspicuous blaze looked a weary horse in the closing stages. How he mustered the energy to do what he did on returning to scale remains a mystery to most horse people. As Stable Talk cantered back towards the enclosure he suddenly put his head between his front legs and bucked his brand off, spearing his jockey to the ground. Anna landed fairly and squarely on the knee she’d injured rather severely on the soccer field four years earlier.
Her diagnosis was heartbreaking - tearing to the posterior cruciate ligament and to the medial collateral ligament. The prognosis was even more disheartening - a minimum of six months on the sidelines and intensive rehabilitation. Specialists decided against surgery in the belief the injury would heal with the aid of a knee brace. Anna was shattered three months into her ordeal when there was little improvement. She was finally admitted for MCL surgery after which she settled into another lengthy period of frustration and tedium. When she attained a 40 degree angle of flexion her physiotherapy sessions began. On reaching 90 degrees she began a gym regime while continuing with her regular physiotherapy. The moment she’d dreamed about for seven months came in mid June when she felt confident enough to resume trackwork duties for her master Damien Lane at Wyong.
“I was obviously very excited but determined to take it slowly,” said Anna. “I rode only three horses on the first morning back but it nearly killed me. I was so sore through the knee I could barely walk. I kept going but the pain persisted and the self doubts were starting to creep in. Just when I was resigned to giving up, there was slight improvement. A week later I was riding five or six horses, and the week after that I was up to ten a morning. It was July 10th when I decided to try myself out on three horses at the Wyong trials. I won a trial on Windmill Road for Sara Ryan which did my confidence the world of good. Two days later I rode another five horses at the Muswellbrook trials, winning one for Todd Howlett. Still, I didn’t want to rush back to the races.”
Anna waited a fortnight before making another appearance at the trials. She set her sights on the Gosford session last Wednesday morning (July 26th) fully aware the time had come to make a decision one way or the other. She’d had an offer from Tara and Philippe Vigouroux to ride Tillman in a very suitable BM58 at Kempsey on Saturday. She had six trial rides at Gosford which produced two winners and two placings. Anna pulled up “sound” and immediately confirmed her availability for the Tillman ride at Kempsey. By the time final acceptances were declared she found herself with another three rides - two for Grafton trainer Dwayne Schmidt, and one for long time Wyong supporter Kristen Buchanan. She wondered if four rides might be too many on her first day back. She needn’t have worried. It was the fourth one, Penfold Park who would give Anna a confidence building return to the winner’s circle.
The Schmidt duo Filthy Rich and Shadesofmidnight ran fourth and second respectively, Tillman had every hope in finishing fourth while Penfold Park appreciated the 1900m in winning the combined Cl 1/Maiden. “Kristen Buchanan’s Racing Manager and partner Peter Hagger suggested I allow Penfold Park to stride along up near the lead,” said Anna. “It worked out well with Lady Goodfellow setting a good pace all the way. Penfold Park followed her into the straight and came away for a strong win. The big boy wanted to keep going and it took me a long time to pull him up. I’m looking forward to riding him in a 2400m race one day. It was just a humble race on the mid north coast, but it meant the world to me. I tried to retain my composure but I was thrilled beyond belief. I couldn’t believe I’d ridden a winner on my first day back after a dreadful chapter in my life.”
A small Kempsey crowd watched Penfold Park give Anna Roper a win on her first day of riding after a long layoff - courtesy Trackside Photography.
Anna Roper was in no hurry to make her race riding debut. Early in 2022 she told her then boss Tracey Bartley that she didn’t care if she had forty or fifty trial rides before going to the races. She’d actually had less than thirty when Gosford trainer Tony Newing offered her the ride on Alpha Go in a BM 66 over 1100m at Gundagai. Anna’s mother Kate drove her all the way to Gundagai, and out onto the track she went as nervous as a kitten to make her debut against some wily senior jockeys in the last race on Cup day. What happened after that is still a blur to some degree.
She was unable to get in from a wide gate, but this was when the innate talent of the young rider was first recognized. She didn’t consider pulling further back into the field, nor did she succumb to the urge to push forward. She accepted her fate in being three wide, and simply settled the gelding into a nice rhythm. Her composure and confidence paved the way for an easy win by Go Alpha. A few minutes later her beaming smile appeared on thousands of Sky Racing screens around the nation. The little girl from Mangrove Mountain had arrived in spectacular fashion. By season’s end she’d ridden fifteen winners. She began the new season with a flurry, and in the first four months rode a remarkable forty one winners and seventy three placegetters. It all came to a shuddering halt at Muswellbrook on November 25th. It’s not hard to see why Saturday’s Kempsey win meant so much.
Anna was riding winners everywhere before her Muswellbrook accident. One of them was Deel Street for Connie Greig at Kembla Grange 22/10/2022 - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
Anna’s fascination with thoroughbreds evolved a long time after her equine involvement first began. She started out in local pony club before becoming interested in the dressage pursuit. She reached a high enough standard to win the Australian Youth Championship in 2016 after which she set her sights on the new challenge of eventing. Her talents in this discipline took her to the NSW Inter School Title in 2019, and the National Inter School Championship in the same year. Away from the racetrack, eventing remains her favourite horse activity.
By her own admission Anna “muddled” her way through the early years at school but changed her tune as the HSC examinations loomed. She passed with flying colours and left the Central Coast Grammar School in 2020 with a high Australian Tertiary Admission Ranking. At this stage of her life, she was focused on a career in veterinary science but fate was waiting in the wings. Before enrolling at University, she opted for an opportunity to earn some spare cash by riding trackwork for Gosford trainer Greg McFarlane. The trainer actually brought a veteran gelding called Sweatball out of the spelling paddock to act as Anna’s on track tutor. “I learned all the fundamentals on old Sweatball who knew his job backwards,” said Anna. “I graduated from slow work to half pace to three quarter pace getting more confident all the time. From the moment I rode my first fast gallop I was hopelessly hooked.
“When my arrangement with the McFarlane stable concluded I decided to seek further experience in a racing stable, and I was fortunate enough to gain a position with Tracey Bartley at Wyong. Because I’d been well schooled in the basics I was able to start fast work straight away. I think I rode three horses the first day, but that increased to ten the following morning when another track rider became indisposed. That’s how it all started. University was put on the back-burner and is still there.”
A Hawkesbury win on Mabel for Tracey Bartley 09/11/2022 - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
The early part of Anna’s comeback will be conducted “off broadway” to use American showbiz parlance. She had three rides at yesterday’s Taree meeting. Two were unplaced while Trust Me was a fast finishing second in the final race. She’s excited to be making a return to her home track at Wyong on Thursday (August 3rd) where one of her rides will be Mr Bingo, a horse for whom she has a lot of time. She won two races at Hawkesbury on the Rodney Bailey trained gelding shortly before her Muswellbrook accident. Anna has won races on a wide range of tracks but is surprisingly winless at Wyong, a statistic she hopes to correct on Thursday. She’s had tentative offers for a handful of rides at Kembla Grange next Saturday but has opted for a bigger book at the Gilgandra meeting. “I’m anxious to get as much match practice as I can at the moment, so I’m going where the rides are available,” said Anna.
The young jockey begins the new phase of her career with a 3kg provincial claim and 1.5kg on country tracks - a tantalizing prospect for many outside stables. To date she’s ridden at only two city meetings but thoroughly enjoyed the experience. She made her metro debut when out of a place on Deel Street at a Rosehill midweeker on November 16th, but one week later at Warwick Farm actually got into the money on two occasions. Anna finished third on Mr Bingo for Rodney Bailey, fourth on Compassionate for Tracey Bartley, and probably should have won when a fast finishing second on Denetta for Damien Lane.
As frustrating as it was, the enforced seven month layoff gave Anna the time to process the amazing things that have happened to her so far, and the reality that the racing game can also be cruelly unforgiving. Having already sampled both ends of the spectrum she can only be wiser for the experience.
Winners are grinners! A Scone win on Jillonni for Sue Grills - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
Her riding career began so suddenly in April 2022 that she didn’t have time to pick up the new saddle she’d ordered from Sydney supplier Markey Saddlery. She actually had the package delivered to the Gundagai racecourse and unpacked it in the lady jockey’s room just in time to weigh out for her all important ride on Go Alpha. That saddle is now one of six in the Roper collection, and they’ll all be getting plenty of use as the 52kg dynamo picks up the threads of a highly promising career.
(Banner image - Penfold Park (Anna Roper) draws clear of Lady Goodfellow (Georgina McDonnell) to win the Cl. 1/Maiden at Warwick Park - courtesy Trackside Photography.)